June 2018

Our first views of Denali National Park were from the air on our K2 Talkeetna Flight Tour. My sisters, Linda and Lisa, Richard and I were able to walk to the airport from our campground. We were a little disappointed when we showed up and they said the glacier landing was not possible due to a low fog bank over the landing area. They offered to reschedule the flight but we were so glad we didn’t because the views of Denali were spectacular! Our pilot, Daniel, was excellent and our co-pilot, Linda (who got to sit up front) was pretty good too. We got some amazing pictures and had a once in a lifetime experience. Here are some of our pictures.

 

We were camping 125 miles from the Denali National Park entrance so the next morning my sisters and I set out at 10 am for our 1:30 Denali Park tour. Shortly after we entered the park we came across this mother and baby moose right along the road!

We had some time before our tour started so we checked out the Visitor Center and ate our picnic lunch.

Then we boarded the bus for our 8 hour tour of the park. You can only drive 15 miles into the park and after that you must ride on one of the park’s busses. The road is gravel beginning at the 15 mile mark and sometimes narrow and steep. Our tour took us about 65 miles into the park as far as Stony Hill, stopping every hour or so for pictures and breaks. We also stopped if anyone saw an animal along the way. Heading out we only saw one caribou but on the way home we spotted Dall sheep, a grizzly bear with her two cubs, a moose, bald eagles, a golden eagle and more caribou. Some of the animals were pretty far away and best seen with binoculars but I did include some slightly blurry pictures as mementoes.

After a great day in the park we started for home. Before heading to Talkeetna we decided to check out the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge (and use the restrooms there) just outside of the park. It is a beautiful hotel and it would be fun to stay there sometime.

We began our 2 1/2 hour drive back home at about 10 pm. It was still light out but overcast for our drive. We saw 4 moose along the way, including one with her cute baby who crossed the street right in front of us. That was pretty exciting!

We made it home safely by 12:30 am exhausted but vary satisfied with our visit to Denali National Park.